Hachmei Provence

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Provence a province in southern France, was a great Torah center in the times of the Tosafists. The rabbis of Provence were separately classified as Hachmei Provence - the wise of Provence, or Provençal rabbis. Their position in matters of Halacha as well as the traditions and custom, was intermediate between Sephardic influenced by the neighboring Spanish scholars, and Ashkenazic as were the rest of the French which were known as Tosafists.

The term Provence in sight of Jewish tradition, is not limited to the Provençal province of today, but is referring to the entire southern coast of France. This is including Narbonne which is sometimes wrongly transliterated as Narvone, in result of back-and-forth transliteration between Hebrew and French ^[1]; Lunel which is wrongly transliterated as Lunil^[2]), and also the mountain city of Montpellier.

Contents 1 Partial List 1.1 Hachmei Narbonne 1.2 Lunel 1.3 Montpellier 1.4 Rest of Provence 1.5 Members of the Kalonymus Family 2 Reference

[edit] Partial List

[edit] Hachmei Narbonne

• Moses ha-Darshan
• Makhir of Narbonne and his great family.
• Moses ben Joseph ben Merwan ha-Levi
• Joseph Kimhi and sons David and Moshe.
• Abraham ben Isaac of Narbonne the Eshkol, also known as the RABaD II.
• Isaac ben Merwan ha-Levi
• Aaron ben Jacob Ha-Kohen the Orhoth Chaim, according to some he lived in Lunel.

[edit] Lunel

• Zerachiah ha-Levi of Girona the Baal haMaor.
• Abraham ben Nathan haYarhi (Yarah is Hebrew of moon, which is Lune in French, the source for the city-name Lunel).
• Yonatan Hakohen of Lunel.
• Abba Mari haYarhi, and his son Isaac.

[edit] Montpellier

• Solomon of Montpellier who lead the movement against Maimonides.

[edit] Rest of Provence

• Abraham ben David known as the RABaD or RABaD III'.
• His son Isaac the Blind a famous Kabalist
• Menachem Meiri
• Nathan ben Meir of Trinquetaille, Provence,
• Shem-Tob ben Isaac of Tortosa
• The famous family Ibn Tibbon.
• Caslari family of Carpentras.
• Bonet de Lattes
• Jacob Anatoli

[edit] Members of the Kalonymus Family

• Kalonymus ben Kalonymus of Avignon.
• Kalonymus ben Todors

[edit] Reference

• Jews of Provence: 7 Audio Lectures by Rabbi Berel Wein
• The Shem-Tov Bonet Kalonymos family

This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.